PVR

Toshiba Japan have updated their REGZA HDTV range, with select models supporting USB hard-drives or coming with 500GB of storage built-in. The Toshiba REGZA R1 series - made up of 32-, 37- and 42-inch sets - and REGZA H1 series - made up of 32- and 37-inch sets - each have a USB port and Full HD resolution (bar on the 32-inch models, which get 720p support). Meanwhile there's also the entry level Toshiba REGZA A1 series, with 19-, 22- and 26-inch models all offering 720p HD resolution.

Biggest headache with the new TiVo Premiere has probably been the sluggish HD UI, but coming up in second place is likely the mere 320GB hard-drive the company fit as standard. That's good enough for up to 400hrs of SD content or 45hrs of HD, but if that's going to put a dampener on your home entertainment experience then head over to weaKnees. The official TiVo retailer has come up with some custom models of their own, offering up to 317hrs of HD recording.

As well as the 250GB PS3, Sony Japan have also announced a new digital TV tuner peripheral for the console. The Sony Torne will drop in March 2010, and offer Japanese buyers a way to watch digital terrestrial TV broadcasts on their PS3, together with PVR functionality that allows for recording content (either to the PS3's HDD or a connected USB 2.0 drive) even while the PS3 is being used for gaming, Blu-ray playback or just in standby mode.

It seems like home theater fans in the UK are always getting new and cool sounding set top boxes while American's are stuck with whatever junk the cable or satellite provider offers. Those watching free-to-air HD broadcasts in the UK now have a cool new 3view set top box to use.

Toshiba have announced their latest high-end LCD TV, and it's the first to include the Cell Broadband Engine for multi-channel display and DVR recording. The Toshiba CELL REGZA 55X1 has a 55-inch, 5,000,000:1 contrast LED-backlit panel, with independent control over each of the 512 LED backlighting zones and 240Hz refresh. It's accompanied by a processor box, housing the Cell goodies, which can pump out eight channels to be shown on-screen at once, time-shift up to eight channels simultaneously for 26 hours, or boot up a web browser based on Opera.

Remotely controlling your TiVo from a BlackBerry has been possible for a while now - thanks to the mobile web interface - but now there's a specific app that aims to make it even easier. TiVo for BlackBerry Smartphones is available free from the App World, and has browse, search and scheduling functionality, together with "Daily Picks" and "Most Popular" categories.

Neuros Technology have been spilling the beans about their next-gen open-source mediaplayer, the OSD3, and while it's not set to hit shelves for at least another 18 months it's shaping up to be impressive. The company is working with Texas Instruments regarding the OSD3's ARM-based processor, and have official support for 1080p/60 encoding and decoding.

AT&T have announced a bevy of new features for their U-verse Total Home DVR system, that will begin rolling out to customers from today. The updates include a 20-percent speed increase to Internet Max subscribers, taking their connection up to 12Mbps, plus more flexibility in scheduling recordings from any U-verse receiver or a new version of the system website.

TiVo have pushed back their DirecTV TiVo DVR plans to early 2010, rather than the second-half of 2009 as originally suggested. Revealed in the company's quarterly financial call - in which TiVo confirmed that they had made a net loss of $4.1m in the three month period - no official reason for the delay was given.